Since its launch in 2006, Hoops Haven has become a staple of the New Jersey basketball community. This is the place to find breaking news, analysis and links about college and high school basketball in the Garden State.

There has been a lot of moving and shaking in Gannett New Jersey lately.

First, Gannett acquired The (Bergen) Record and its website, NorthJersey.com. Then our talented Rutgers football writer, my good friend Ryan Dunleavy, took a job covering that same beat for New Jersey Advance Media.

Now Ryan’s shoes are being filled by another good friend, longtime Record reporter J.P. Pelzman. J.P. did a fine job covering the Jets and Seton Hall, and I’m pleased to call him a colleague. He’ll spearhead our coverage of Rutgers football and the RU athletics department as a whole.

My job remains the same, but the upshot is my college basketball coverage (Seton Hall, Rutgers, etc.) will now appear in The Record and NorthJersey.com as well as the Asbury Park Press and other Gannett New Jersey papers.

J.P. will help me out when he can. Along with Josh Newman on Monmouth and the MAAC/mid-major scene, that’s a lot of college hoops knowledge on our staff. Looking forward to the season already.

It’s hard to say how close Mike Lonergan came to being the Rutgers basketball coach. He withdrew his candidacy late in the process, and the feeling I got is Steve Pikiell was the No. 2 choice all along behind Dan Hurley.

Anyway, it’s a good thing that hire never came to fruition, because Lonergan stands accused some mighty boorish behavior in this Washington Post piece . . .

As announced Thursday, Seton Hall plays Florida at 8:30 p.m. Thanksgiving night (ESPN2) in the quarterfinals of the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando. It’s a good field; the winner faces Gonzaga or Quinnipiac in the semis on Black Friday.

That’s a nice two days for Pirate fans if the Hall earns the rematch with Gonzaga.

Iowa State, Miami, Stanford and Indiana State are on the other side of the bracket (view below):

As our friend Jaden Daly first reported, there will be no game between Seton Hall and Saint Peter’s this season for the first time since 1948-49. The ADs could not agree on contractual details, and instead the Hall filled the gap with Central Connecticut State — perhaps the worst team in Division I.

Saint Peter’s should be pretty good — an upper-tier MAAC team — but we have been assured by our contacts in Jersey City that the Hall is not dodging the Peacocks. Still, the Pirates’ home schedule out-of-conference just got uglier. A few links . . .

In announcing his first recruiting class Tuesday, Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell praised newcomers Matt Bullock, Issa Thiam and Candido Sa as “character young men who will work hard and make us better.”

They have to, because it appears Rutgers is going into the 2016-17 season with just 10 scholarship players. It’s a calculated gamble on Pikiell’s part — hang in there with limited resources this year and hold three scholarships for the Class of 2017 and beyond, when his staff will have more traction on the recruiting trail.

About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.